Davidson Tops South Carolina 70-63 to Advance in NIT

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COLUMBIA, S.C. – Stephen Curry scored 32 points to lead Davidson to a 70-63 victory over the University of South Carolina in the first round of the NIT Tuesday night at Colonial Life Arena.

Curry shot 9-of-19 from the field, hitting five 3-pointers and making nine of his 10 free throw attempts, while scoring 20 points in the second half.

Andrew Lovedale added a near double-double, scoring 17 points and pulling down a game-high nine rebounds, with two blocks and two steals.

South Carolina's Devan Downey went 8-for-8 from the charity stripe on his way to a team-high 18 points, with Mike Holmes scoring 12 and Zam Fredrick chipping in 10.

With Davidson clinging to a two-point lead with 6:19 to play, Curry scored nine of the 'Cats' last 11 points of the contest. That stretch included a 3-pointer, a layup, a runner in the lane and four free throws.

The trey sparked a 7-2 run, which put Davidson up by seven points with 3:48 to go, and the Gamecocks never got closer than five points for the rest of the game. With Davidson holding a seven-point lead with under a minute to play, Lovedale closed the door on the victory with a block and rebound of a USC layup, passing out to Curry, who dribbled out the clock.

Davidson forced USC into 37.5 percent shooting for the night, including a 2-of-10 showing from behind the arc, while hitting six treys and shooting 47.1 percent from the field.

Davidson (27-7) jumped out to a 23-12 lead in the first half, courtesy of an 8-0 run midway through the frame, capped off by a Curry 3-pointer in transition following a Max Paulhus Gosselin block on the defensive end. South Carolina chipped into the lead the remainder of the half, with the Wildcats holding a 28-26 advantage going into the break.

The Davidson defense held USC to 25 percent (6-24) shooting from the field, while hitting 40.7 percent including 4-of-9 from behind the arc. The Gamecocks took advantage at the free-throw line, where South Carolina (21-10) connected on 13 of their 18 attempts, while Davidson took seven free throws, hitting a pair.

The Wildcats will now await the winner of the St. Mary's-Washington State game in the second round of the NIT. Game time and location will be announced at a later date.

NOTES: Davidson has now won four of its last five postseason games, and has gone 3-1 in its last four NIT contests … Head coach Bob McKillop coached his 599th career contest at the collegiate level… Curry topped 30 points for the 30th time in his career, and the 15th time this season … Lovedale set a new school record for career games played, and has now appeared in 129 contests… Curry moved into the top 30 on the NCAA career scoring record books, passing Joe Dumars… He now has 2,609 points in his three-plus seasons … He also broke his own school record for single-season scoring, with 948 points, passing the 931 he scored in the 2007-08 season.

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